In The Teaching Gap by James W. Stigler and James Hiebert, the authors try to delve into reasons as to why American students perform so poorly on international tests. Due to these test results, many politicians and policy makers have been attempting to reform education by creating higher standards and requiring higher credentials for teachers to maintain to. All this would be done in an effort to close the education gap between American students and their global peers. The authors of the book however feel that this is not the most affective approach, stating that they feel that the gap is in the method of teaching, not the teachers. To determine this they obtained video of a variety of lessons taught in the United States, Germany, and Japan. The results showed that the different cultures had distinct differences in the focuses of their teachings based on their teaching methods; for example Japan focused more on problem solving techniques while America focused more on learning terms and practicing procedures.
I think the authors do a good job of digging deeper into this ongoing issue (dates back to test scores from 1960's), but I'm surprised that they haven't brought up the significant cultural differences between the countries. In chapter 1 they state "there are many other factors that influence learning in a significant way, such as student's home and social life, and the resources of the school and community". Although these are the beginning chapters of the book and the authors may answer these questions later on, I'm curious as to know that students throughout the world (Japan, Germany, America, etc.) are provided with the same opportunities as their global peers. With a video camera in place, students are bound to be on their best behavior no matter where they are in the world. But when the cameras are shut off and everyday school resumes, do all of these students possess the same motivation to succeed in their education? Is a students motivation in education a reflection of the cultural beliefs of both the community and the home? I personally believe that these external factors play a much bigger role than the authors take into consideration. The authors then go on to talk about America, stating that "much of what our society expects children to learn, they learn at school, and teaching is the activity most clearly responsible for learning". As it is true that teaching is the activity most clearly responsible for learning, we need to define what "society expects children to learn". This can greatly vary from culture to culture and even vary throughout communities, therefore a more clear definition is needed. In Japan, students are given a more discovery approach applying what they are learning through problem solving. Could these teaching approaches be implemented into a classroom where students struggle with basic concepts and terms that coincide with using these problem solving techniques?
I really look forward to reading this book and find it very interesting to further learn about how these differences in teaching can be minimized to help optimize student learning.
I think the authors do a good job of digging deeper into this ongoing issue (dates back to test scores from 1960's), but I'm surprised that they haven't brought up the significant cultural differences between the countries. In chapter 1 they state "there are many other factors that influence learning in a significant way, such as student's home and social life, and the resources of the school and community". Although these are the beginning chapters of the book and the authors may answer these questions later on, I'm curious as to know that students throughout the world (Japan, Germany, America, etc.) are provided with the same opportunities as their global peers. With a video camera in place, students are bound to be on their best behavior no matter where they are in the world. But when the cameras are shut off and everyday school resumes, do all of these students possess the same motivation to succeed in their education? Is a students motivation in education a reflection of the cultural beliefs of both the community and the home? I personally believe that these external factors play a much bigger role than the authors take into consideration. The authors then go on to talk about America, stating that "much of what our society expects children to learn, they learn at school, and teaching is the activity most clearly responsible for learning". As it is true that teaching is the activity most clearly responsible for learning, we need to define what "society expects children to learn". This can greatly vary from culture to culture and even vary throughout communities, therefore a more clear definition is needed. In Japan, students are given a more discovery approach applying what they are learning through problem solving. Could these teaching approaches be implemented into a classroom where students struggle with basic concepts and terms that coincide with using these problem solving techniques?
I really look forward to reading this book and find it very interesting to further learn about how these differences in teaching can be minimized to help optimize student learning.